updated 10:50 am EST, Tue December 14, 2010

Dell Venue Pro not coming until January 5?

The general availability of Dell's Venue Pro WP7 smartphone has been pushed back yet again, this time to January 5. It was originally expected -- and showed briefly -- on Microsoft's website at the start of November. It appeared on Dell's website for pre-orders but has triggered frustration from early buyers claiming their shipments have been pushed back, even with shipping notifications in hand. The Windows Phone 7 slider was originally slated to launch today, December 14.

The reasons for the delay haven't been specified, but may revolve around the availability of its AMOLED display and earlier reported issues with pre-production versions' Wi-Fi and SIM card slots. At one point, the Microsoft stores that had early access had almost no models that were working properly.

The Venue Pro is the only WP7 handset with a vertical QWERTY slideout form factor. It has a five-megapixel camera and 8GB of built-in storage space. [viaWMPowerUser]